program, students achieve their
Certificate of Apprenticeship and
Certificate of Qualification in the trade
of pile driver and bridgeworker issued
by the Province of British Columbia.”
The program involves both in-class
and field learning.
“Each level includes six weeks at the
training centre and 1,200 hours in the
field as an apprentice,” said Kashuba.
“The six weeks of an apprenticeship
level includes class time and shop project
time. Online learning is reserved
for select tickets such as WHMIS 2015,
CSTS-09 and Pleasure Craft Operator.”
Casey Nichols is one of two instructors
at the Centre. While he has only been
teaching at the Centre for the past five
years, he has been teaching in the field
for many years as a journeyman/foreman,
showing younger, inexperienced
workers safe and productive methods.
“A lot of people said I had the aptitude
and patience to mentor the
apprentices,” said Nichols. “When the
opportunity presented itself to become
an instructor, I took it. After five years
and much training, I hold credentials
from Penn State University and
the International Carpenters Union
academic department. What I like
the most about being an instructor is
giving back to an organization that has
been great to me since I joined them 33
years ago.”
Patrick Fahey and Nick Johnson
are both graduates of the program
and cannot say enough positive things
about what they have learned and the
opportunities it offers.
“I was working at the time in a welding
shop, barely squeaking by,” said Johnson,
37, who is originally from Williams Lake,
but now lives in Coquitlam, B.C. “I was
looking to get back into the industrial
side of welding. I went down to the
Piledriving Union Hall and spoke to my
father’s childhood buddy, who explained
what the job entailed. But it wasn’t until
I was actually hired that I knew what this
career actually was. After that, I had to
pursue it!”
Johnson says the instructors taught
him many of the smaller details
that would be encountered in the
work field.
“The instructors, Casey Nichols and
Steve Reid, did an amazing job showing
us these things. They both understood
– being field guys themselves – that
we were more hands-on learners than
focusing on the bookwork side of
things. For me, that really helped. I
come from a welding/millwright background,
so having a program that
caters to the newbies and the guys that
have been around a while was definitely
a plus.”
Fahey says he entered the three-year
program to obtain as much knowledge
about the trade as soon as possible and
to become more employable.
“In the program, we focused on all
parts of the trade – from labour intensive
work all the way to bidding and
winning our own job contracts,” he
said. “We also heavily focused on rigging,
which is a huge part of what we
do and my favourite part of the trade.”
He adds that it is easy to become
overwhelmed with the process, but
FEATURE
“In the program, we
focused on all parts
of the trade – from
labour intensive
work all the way
to bidding and
winning our own
job contracts. We
also heavily focused
on rigging, which
is a huge part of
what we do and my
favourite part of the
trade.”
– Patrick Fahey,
Program Graduate
A pre-task meeting for driving timber pile with drop hammer
CONTINUED ON PAGE 30
28 Q2 2017 www.pilingcanada.ca
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